Journey to Konoha
by articwolfgirl347
Summary: Ed and Al Elric finally think that they have the right equation for getting Al's body back, but it seems they have messed up somehow.  Truth is giving them one year to figure out how to do it right, in the world of shinobi- or else.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

**I DON'T OWN FMA OR NARUTO. Really, do I look like Masashi Kishimoto to you?**

It was finally the day. Edward and Alphonse had gone to Xing and had practiced mixing alchemy and alkahestry together. Finally, they had come up with a theory that could work- would work, Edward amended. Finally, Al would get his body back.

Alphonse stood in the middle as Ed drew the final lines for the transmutation. Throwing the kunai, he walked into the center with Al. They smiled at each other, and simultaneously clapped their hands together, and touched the ground, activating the circle. Xio (?) May and Ling stood by, but other than the two, they were utterly alone. The last thing that the Elric brothers saw before the blue lights flashed, was May biting her lip as she concentrated on one of the points of the circle that connected to a kunai.

"No!" She shouted, but it was in vain. The flash of light came like it always did, and the Elrics were gone.

Ed found himself standing in a place that was starting to feel familiar- way too familiar for his liking. He was in front of the menacing gate. He looked to his right and saw Al, staring at the door longingly.

"So, you're back again, Alchemist." Ed looked back and saw Truth. No matter how many times he saw Truth, he/it was truly creepy.

"We're here to pick up Al's body!" Ed spoke determinedly. Al nodded. Truth grinned in delight.

"Sorry, Alchemist, but that's not what the transmutation circle you created does. You didn't really think that you would get it right the first time, did you? Besides, alkahestry and alchemy don't match each other that well, no matter what you think. Since you did try so hard, though, I'm going to give you a chance. Here's the proposition: I'm going to send you to some place interesting for a year. At the end of the year, you both will either die, or get sent back home with Alphonse in his original body. While there, you must find the true way to mix alkahestry and alchemy- in other words, find the correct sequence that gives back what I have taken. This isn't really a proposition. You're going to do it no matter what!"

The gate opened before either Elric had a chance to yell something, anything, and black hands grabbed them and pulled them into darkness.

**Authors Note: Sorry this chapter is a bit short; hopefully the upcoming ones are longer! I'm going to have fun with this story, but I'm not sure where it will go from here! If you flame me, I will flame you back and I AM a pyromaniac, so you'd better watch out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own squat. Not… yet, anyways…**

Ed and Al fell to the ground, landing ungracefully on their behinds. Wincing, they looked up at their surroundings, focusing on a boy Ed's age (though obviously not his height) with blond hair and bright blue eyes. The boy was staring at the two Elrics cautiously, but he wasn't freaking out, which was good.

"Who are you?" The boy asked.

"I'm Edward and this is Alphonse. We're the Elric brothers. A lot of people have heard of us." _In our world, but probably not yours,_ Ed added silently. The boy scowled.

"I haven't." He muttered. "Um… did Pein or Konan kill you? Are you from the Leaf?"

"If this 'Pain' person killed us, d'you really think that we'd be sitting here, talking to you?" Ed asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Brother, be nice!" Al chastised.

"What?" He retorted. "I'm pretty sure that you can't revive the dead in any world."

"Um, yeah…" The boy broke in. "Pein and Konan supposedly just resurrected a bunch of people… including Kakashi-sensei. So… I'll be going now…" He turned to leave anxiously.

"Wait!" Alphonse called out. "Can we, um, come with you?" Ed's eyes as well as the boys' eyes widened at the same time.

"Er, okay." The boy replied. "If… you can keep up." He left without another word. Ed and Al charged outside and turned to see the blond jumping through trees, 25 meters away and counting. The Elrics immediately started transmuting the ground and trees in order to propel themselves forward so as to not to be left behind.

Naruto (who else would the blond boy be?) almost couldn't believe his eyes. The jutsu that those strange brothers were using looked so cool! He made a mental note to ask them how they did it later. Right now, though, he was dying to see everyone, especially Kakashi-sensei.

Ed and Al could faintly make out footsteps up ahead and anxious whispers. As the forest thinned out, Ed could make out a huge crowd up ahead.

"It's Naruto!" One of the men shouted, and the large crowd cheered as the boy came to a halt in front of them. The Elrics both stared. Apparently, the blond boy, Naruto, hadn't been expecting this reaction either. The crowd burst toward Naruto, a pink haired girl and a few others in the lead. The Elrics backed off, a bit uncomfortable at the unexplained exclamations of joy. Their only guide for this world had been swept away by all the people.

"Brother, do you think that people will ever cheer like that for us someday?" Al asked wistfully from (unfortunately) his suit of armor.

"Nah." Ed replied. "I'm a state alchemist, so it'd never happen, at least for me. Besides, alchemists are for the people, not the people for the alchemists." He snorted. "Glory is a bad influence anyways, Al. Who cares?" With that he turned to leave, and Al followed his notion. They'd find someone else, perhaps from another city, to explain this world to them. Before they had gotten very far, though, they heard a voice call out from behind them.

"Wait!" They turned to see a man with silver-gray hair sticking out like a hedgehogs. The man also wore a mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

"What?" Ed asked.

"You two came to the village with Naruto, but when he left he was alone. Who are you two?" Ed sighed.

"We're… nobody important. We're just travelers." Al responded. The mans' visible eye narrowed.

"No one is 'just' anything. What are your names?"

"We're the Elric brothers. Got a problem with that?" Ed asked in a harsh tone.

"Perhaps." The man replied in a bored, nonchalant matter. "Why are you two so eager to leave this village?"

"What is this, 20 Questions?" Ed snapped. "C'mon Al." He stomped off and his armored brother started after him.

"Not so fast." The man remarked, but both brothers ignored him. In a flash, they found themselves buried up to their chests in the ground.

"Wha-" Ed was cut off by the man.

"Now, where were we? Ah, right, I was asking why you two want to leave our lovely village so badly."

"Your 'lovely' village looks like it just got squashed like a bug." Ed retorted. The man shrugged.

"You two seem like shady characters right now, and our village can't afford another confrontation right now or anytime soon. I'd ask Tsunade what to do with you, but it appears that I can't at this moment. In any case-" He broke off as a loud voice called out to him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The boy, Naruto, had broken away from the crowd and was running towards them. "You're alive! Hey, what's going on here?" Naruto queried at the sight of the sunken Elrics.

"Your 'sensei' decided it was time for a chitchat with us, and apparently he doesn't take no for an answer." Ed growled as Alphonse sighed in exasperation.

"Could you please release us?" Al directed his question to Kakashi politely. "We promise not to run away." Kakashi surprisingly did release them, but Ed was so busy muttering curses at the man that he almost didn't notice.

At the mans' questioning glance, Al began to explain their chaotic story (editing out many parts for sanitys' sake).

**Yay! I actually figured out the story line (partly)! Well, I hope you liked it. IMPORTANT NOTE: I decided that Konan died along with Pein simply because I like it better that way. Also, while Pein was searching for Naruto, Konan slit Danzo's throat. They decided that it would be better for the world if they left him dead, so they didn't resurrect him. XD ****Feel free to review ****(but if you criticize, kindly explain your reasoning).**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: If I owned anything, would I be writing on ****FAN****? Don't think so.**

"So," Ed began, "to summarize what Al said, we were using alchemy to get Al his body back, something went wrong, and the Gate pulled us in and pushed us out into this world, in front of Naruto." He didn't blame the two shinobi one bit for their incredulous looks.

"It's true." Al said. "I swear it."

"S-so… you have no idea what a shinobi is?" Naruto asked finally. The two Elrics shook their heads. Kakashi snorted.

"And I mistook you two for dangers to Konoha. I'd invite you two to our genin-training school, but its being suspended until our village becomes… less flat."

"We could help out with that." Alphonse offered before Ed could stop him. Kakashi seemed surprised at his offer.

"I'd gladly accept, were it not that you two are civilians and not shinobi. Unless… you two don't have any experience in architecture or construction, do you?"

"No," Ed replied quickly, shooting a glare at Al.

"We specialize in _reconstruction_." Al clarified.

"Al!" Ed protested.

"What?" Alphonse replied. "We should help these people."

"What's reconstruction?" Inquired Kakashi.

"It's a part of alchemy where you change or reform elements, so to speak." Al quipped.

"Whaaat?" Naruto asked, obviously confused.

"It's easier just to show you," Ed grumbled. He clapped his hands and put them against the ground, spitefully forming a stone fist that popped up out of the ground below Kakashi, who jumped away nimbly at a quicker speed than Ed would have thought the man could move. Kakashi was in peak physical condition, and Ed was starting to become wary of that. Kakashi was staring at the fist intently.

"That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, breaking Eds train of thought. Did he really have to be so loud and energetic? Ed wondered to himself. "You have to teach me that jutsu," Naruto begged.

"Jutsu?" Al asked.

"Yeah, your technique for making that stone pop up."

"You mean alchemy?"

"Uh… yeah, sure!" Naruto replied, and clapped his hands. Thrusting them down, Naruto yelled out, "Alchemy Jutsu!"

Nothing happened.

"Erm… I don't think it works like that." Alphonse commented. "You have to know the laws in order to use alchemy." Naruto frowned.

"Laws? Is it a bloodline jutsu?"

"No, I mean like the laws of equiv-"

"What's a bloodline jutsu?" Ed interrupted Al's explanation.

"It's a type of jutsu that only people from a certain lineage can use." Naruto responded, proud to sound smart.

"Yeah," Ed replied, shooting a glance at his brother. "Alchemy's like that." Naruto pouted.

"I'm sure that you are confused by many things." Kakashi spoke up. "In return for your promise to help rebuild our village, I will reinstate the genin-training school for tomorrow." Naruto frowned.

"Shouldn't Tsunade-baa-chan be making that decision?" Naruto inquired.

"Tsunade-sama… is currently in a coma. I will be acting as Hokage in her stead, at least until she wakes up." Naruto's eyes widened.

"WHA? Tsunade-baa-chan is in a coma? W-why… how long?"

"We are unsure, but the medic nin are doing everything that they can for her."

"Oh." Naruto gave a sigh of relief. "With their and Sakura-chans' help, she'll be back in no time… in any case… why did they make _you_ Hokage? You're late to everything!" Kakashi shrugged.

"Let's get back to the village. Elrics, I am sure that we can find suitable living arrangements for you soon."

With that, all four of them departed.

"Hey," Naruto commented, as they ended their journey in the Konoha rubble. "You guys can stay at my place!" Kakashi snorted.

"Naruto, your apartment was demolished along with the many other buildings."

"What? No! My stuff! Ack, I left my frog wallet in there!" With that, Naruto ran off.

"Now, Elrics," Kakashi continued. "Could you manage to fix a few buildings? It would be much appreciated. I'm afraid that I have to run, but I'll send someone over to help you out and clarify a few things. Ja." Kakashi departed with those last words.

"Al," Ed sulked. "You just had to open your big mouth."

"C'mon, Nii-san," Al replied. "It's all working out. We'll learn so many things here!" Ed sighed, and reluctantly raised a building with his alchemy.

"Hey, Nii-san?" Al asked after they had raised four buildings.

"What?"

"Why did you stop me from telling them about alchemy?"

"Because," Ed explained, "we don't know if we can trust them or not. Why should we tell them about our best defense and weapon?"

"I don't know why, but… I think we can trust them," Al responded.

"You think we should trust everybody."

"Do not!"

"Do too!" Just then, the two Elrics noticed the arrival of three people. "Who are you?"

"We were sent here by Kakashi-sama," a guy(?) with long, brown hair and weird eyes responded.

"Please continue with your work," a girl added timidly. She had the same weird eyes as the boy. _Siblings? _Ed wondered. The last member of the group sighed.

"How troublesome."

**Well, that's it for now! Hope you liked it. Can you guess who is in the group of three? Special thanks to my reviewers: My brother RokibaHatake for his support, Rinnala for the encouragement, and arandomreviewer for the comedy (and Heck yeah, I'll take you on any day in a pyro fight!). Remember, readers, that reviews encourage writers to get the next chapter written faster! R&R is much appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I'm not living in a mansion yet. :C**

Ed shot a glare at Alphonse for the umpteenth time. Al smiled apologetically, but Ed knew that Al would volunteer their alchemy talents again in a heartbeat. Some days he really hated his younger brothers' do-good personality. Making apartments, shops, and other buildings was really tiring, and it was _especially_ _irritating_ when you had three people looking over your shoulder every three seconds. He let out a low growl and turned to observe his current work. He had added a bit of Edward-style flair to it, nothing too special… it just had a statue of a stupid certain colonel on it, with a sword sticking through it and a ballerina costume to decorate the colonel instead of his blue uniform. It was so beautiful that it almost made Ed forget that he hated being obligated to help out.

"Nii-san!" He heard Al protest at his new decoration.

"Like it, Al?" Ed snickered.

"No! Fix it, Nii-san! That extra would probably is for a couple of closets!" Ed grinned.

"But this is much better use of the wood, Al."

"No, it isn't!"

"Please put it back, Elric-san," added the timid girl with the weird eyes. "This was a very lovely building before it was destroyed." She pulled a small picture out of a small pouch on her. "This is what it used to look like. I'm sorry… that I don't have any pictures of the other building for you to go off of." She handed him the picture, and Ed studied it.

"Pfft, that's so _boring_," Ed complained. Al rolled his eyes at his brothers' antics. "I… guess it'll have to do though." Ed frowned. But… it was just _so beautiful_. Did they really have to make him destroy his _art?_ It really wasn't fair. He sighed. His only fun all day, and it has to be ruined. Great. Just great. He clapped his hands and repaired the building, as they would say, _properly_. He turned and started walking towards another pile of rubble, when a man came stomping towards him.

"Hey, brats! Which one of you touched my house?" He sneered, pointing to an apartment two buildings up.

"Me." Ed replied. "What of it?"

"You destroyed my house! What's the matter with you? You trying to rip me off or something? Some job you did! My apartment building used to have four storied on it, and now its' only got _three!_" He spat out at Ed. Eds' eyes narrowed.

"Oh, _really?_" Ed asked. "I'll just bet it was. I know a cheapskate when I see one, and that building over there was a poor piece of work. Those walls were so thin, that they were practically made of paper. You should thank me, A: because your apartment building is now more than broken trash, and B: because the building is better quality. Go away, I'm busy helping _your _stupid village."

"How dare you speak to me like that, you little brat!" Ed twitched, and the mans' eyes widened just as a boot hit his face.

"DON'T CALL ME MIDGET! OR SHORTY! OR SHRIMP!" Ed was just getting into it, when the brown-haired guy (?) intervened.

"My apologies for this civilians' rudeness, but senseless violence isn't encouraged in our village." He spoke as he intervened, holding Ed's punch from connecting to the unfortunate citizens' body. He turned to face the angry village. "You should be grateful that he bothered to raise your insignificant building in the first place. Go, or I will report your pathetic arguments to Tsunade-sama." The man paled.

"F-fine! But don't think this is over!" Ed growled in response to the mans' declaration. The man obviously had a death wish. The man left, huffing under his breath. As Ed went back to working, he noticed the spiky-haired, laid-back member of the group comment smugly to the long-haired one.

"You could have stopped the argument before the man was injured."

"Yes, but that wouldn't have been very satisfying, now, would it?" Came the cool reply. Ed snickered, agreeing with the comment as he turned back to the arduous work of fixing buildings. In total, Ed and Al had re-made at least fifteen buildings.

A slight sound caused Ed to turn around. A guy (probably another ninja) came running up with a large dog at his side. "Hey, Hinata," the boy greeted. "Kakashi-sama said to bring the two weirdos over to the refuge camp. A tent has been set up for them to stay in until more inns are fixed." The dog he had brought gave a bark of greeting (?) as well. He turned to the Elrics. "I assume that you two are the weirdos spoken of?"

"D-did Kakashi really say weirdos, Kiba?" The laid-back, spiky-haired one commented, grinning in amusement.

"Hmm… I think he said something like 'unusual travelers' but that's practically the same thing, right?" The guy, Kiba, replied.

"Hmph," Ed responded. Just so long as they weren't calling him 'small' he couldn't care less what they called him.

"That's probably us," Al added, giving a real reply to the inquiry. "Does this mean that we're done for the day?" Kiba nodded.

"Follow me." The guy turned to leave, and the Elrics followed.

"Report." Kakashi stared at the three young shinobi that had watched Ed. The situation had turned out better than he had thought it would. Two were Hyuuga, skilled at observation, and one was Shikamaru Nara, a genius who was patient and noticed details as well.

"They could very well be a danger to Konoha later on." Neji stated. "They seem harmless at first because for some reason, their chakra ways are only as open as a civilian that has had a bit of shinobi training, but in reality, they can use little or no chakra to recreate buildings. How they do it with no chakra is so… strange. I've never seen anything like it before." Hinata nodded in agreement.

"It was very unexpected. They could also be a great asset to Konoha," Hinata added.

"I see… Shikamaru, what strategies would you suggest for the two Elrics?"

"I would be cautious around them, regardless of what tactics you use. They don't give off any murderous intent, but if angered the elder Elric boy is capable of doing plenty of damage… especially if there isn't a ninja nearby to stop them. I would, personally, were I in your situation, show that our village is strong, but friendly. I would also be careful about teaching them more jutsu until we know that they are Konohas' allies…"

"Is that all?"

"Hai."

"You three are free to go for the day." The three shinobi took off.

Ed woke up, wincing as he did so. Light was streaming in through their tent from the front flap, and he could see a figure outlined in shadow. "Hey, long time no see!" Ed groaned. Not that loudmouth, _please _not that loudmouth. Did he really have to be so noisy this early in the morning?

"…C'mon! I'm gonna take you guys to the best restaurant in the whole village! Get up!" Al was already sitting up, and for a moment Ed felt a pang of guilt. It should be him who can't sleep at night, stuck inside a suit of armor, not Al. He shook it off quickly though. Al was the reason he was in Konoha. He wasn't going to waste time sleeping when he could be getting closer to restoring Al's body. He sat up and crawled out the entrance.

Ed grinned. Naruto hadn't been lying when he said that the restaurant was good. He was eating something called 'ramen' and he kind of liked it. It was very different from food back home. Ed turned to Al. "You have got to try this…" _When we get your body back, that is…_ The unspoken words reached Al, and he nodded. He turned to Naruto, who was blissfully eating the food, and Ed couldn't blame him. "Hey, Naruto, what are the ingredients in this?" Naruto shrugged.

"Hey! Old man Ichiraku! What're the ingredients in your ramen?" The old man grinned.

"That's a secret, Naruto, but… you don't remember that time when you and that chubby kid helped out at my restaurant?"

"Oh, yeah! I remember that! Let's see… ramen noodles… egg… erm…" Naruto struggled to think of the food. "Aw, this hurts my head! Let's just eat!" With that, Naruto began slurping down more ramen.

Ed was soon amazed at how much Naruto could eat! The orange-clothed boy was matching Ed bowl for bowl as they downed the good food. Ed wondered briefly who would win in a food contest…

** Well, that's all for now! It was such a fun chapter to write, I hope you enjoyed it. Special thanks to my reviewers: Peninsula (I liked your thoughts and incorporated a bit of it into this chapter, thanks for the advice), my own Nii-chan Rokiba Hatake (the one to absolutely insist that I write the next chapter soon), and sumigodess (I wish it was the sand siblings, they will appear later in the story). Please review! I hope to get another chapter up before Spring Break ends. You get more chapters sooner if you review… is this blackmail? Yes.**


	5. Chapter 5

** Disclaimer: You're pretty slow if you haven't figured it out by now.**

Ed and Alphonse were clearly in front of a school building of some sort. Its' aura of eraser, chalk, and hardened-gum-under-the-desks could almost be seen rolling off the building. It was an okay place, though, and pretty clean considering that A: it was a school, and B: the village was severely damaged recently.

The two Elrics made their way down one of the halls in the school and found the room they had been instructed to find. Ed swung the door open, and stepped inside casually.

Most of the class had already assembled, and Ed noticed that they were all… kids. Some were talking, others sleeping and one girl was sketching. _They train kids to be ninja this early?_ Ed wondered. He would have been amazed, but, being a child prodigy himself, he knew that these children could be more than what they appeared to be.

The teacher, a man with a scar across his nose, told the class to settle down and the class quieted. He turned to the Elrics. "Hello, I am Iruka-sensei, the teacher of this class. You must be the new students Kakashi-sama spoke of." Ed nodded and turned to take two empty seats in the back by the girl sketching, grateful that he and Alphonse could sit next to each other to discuss the subjects the class was going over.

"Okay," Iruka spoke. "Let's review what we've gone over. Who can explain what chakra is?" A few hands were raised and one was selected.

"Chakra is our body's reusable energy that flows through the chakra system like blood," explained a boy with glasses. "We release it by combining words and hand gestures with the chakra."

Ed was intrigued. He wanted to see it with his own eyes. Were they using their own life force to create alchemy, or 'jutsu' as they called it? That could take years off of ones' life if used casually!

"What do we need to always remember about chakra?" The teacher asked next.

"It is a limited supply and you mustn't use too much of it."

"Why?"

"Because if you use too much of it without resting, you could seriously injure or kill yourself."

"Good." Ed's hand shot up. "Yes?" Iruka questioned.

"Isn't it dangerous to use life energy? It's irreplaceable and takes years off of peoples' lives!" Iruka shook his head.

"While it's dangerous to use chakra sometimes, chakra does replace itself and you can get more chakra through training and rest." Ed was a confused. He didn't understand it. Using life force could be _replaced?_ He'd never heard of something so ridiculous. He continued to ponder this while the class was doing some 'jutsu'. He was stirred from his thoughts when he realized that the teacher had just turned into Kakashi.

Alphonse was amazed! The teacher had made himself into a different person. How? He'd never seen anything like that. "Brother!"

"I know. Strange… I don't believe this. I think… that the chakra is definitely life force, and life force can't be replaced! So how can they use it carelessly? It's impossible for it to just replace itself like blood! So… _how does it work?_" Ed bit his lip in concentration.

"Hey, Nii-san," Al replied. "They have textbooks over there!" He pointed to a shelf against the wall towards the front of the classroom.

"Ah! A reference book." Ed smiled. "That should explain it. But if it doesn't…"

Al grimaced. He knew what was coming next.

"…they have a library here, right?"

Ed and Al were walking to their new apartment, staggering with the amount of books they had. Ed hadn't been able to figure out how the chakra could be replaced in the limited time he'd had at the library, and had settled for taking a total of 17 large, in-depth textbooks home. For once, Al had been relieved to have a body of steel. Trying to carry that many home in his and his brothers' hands would have been suicide.

Ed felt an unexpected rush of air blow into him from the left and turned to see what it was. Two… were those _mini tornadoes?_ …Blew a grove of trees into pieces and then came to a halt. Slowly, the wind dissipated and revealed two forms. It was the dog-boy, Kiba, if Ed remembered rightly. Next to him was his faithful companion.

"Alright, another successful Gatsuga!" Kiba praised his and his dog's work.

"Arf!" Agreed the dog.

"How did you do that?" Al rushed over to the two. Kiba smirked.

"Trade secret," he replied, "but it uses chakra."

"You're joking." Ed commented. Kiba looked offended that Ed said such a thing.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't believe in 'catra'." Kiba burst into laughter.

"You… you don't believe in _chakra_?" It was the strangest thing Kiba had ever heard of.

"No."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm perfectly serious."

"Well, then, we'll just have to prove it. Fang over Fang!" And with that, Kiba's dog landed on Kiba, turning into another copy of him. A call of "Gatsuga!" and the two figures turned into miniature tornadoes and headed towards the Elric brothers. Ed reacted quickly, clapping his hands together and then into the ground, making a tall earthen wall between himself and the tornadoes. The tornadoes then rammed into the wall, and said wall began to crack. Ed and Al had just enough time to move out of the way as the two burst through Ed's wall. _I knew I should've made that wall thicker._ Still, the power behind the two was enormous and- frustratingly inexplicable. Ed liked to have a reason for things, yet the existence of this 'chakra' couldn't be denied. Kiba and his dog's tornadoes came to a stop, and the dog assumed its' own form. Kiba grinned.

"Still don't believe in chakra?" He asked overconfidently, already knowing the type of answer the short blond was going to give.

"Your chakra is a strange thing," Al responded instead of Ed. "We don't really know if it can plausibly exist based on science. It is very hard to not be able to identify the cause of chakra for us because alchemists are scientists."

"So… basically, you can't accept chakra because you're _nerds?_" Kiba replied.

"Can a nerd do _this?_" Ed inquired as he turned the earth below Kiba into a fist that sent Kiba flying up into the air several feet. Al rolled his eyes at his brothers' antics, though he silently had to agree that Ed's actions were justifiable. Ed snickered to himself, pleased once again at his handiwork.

**Hope you enjoyed it! Please review! It means a lot. Sorry I was a bit slow getting this one up, but… life happens. I'll probably only be able to update on weekends, since that is when I have the most time to work on this. Special thanks again to my reviewers: Kiyiamayu (I'll try to use the five senses more, but it just didn't feel right to use them in this chapter), St. Iggy the Pyro (sure, the more pyros the more fire we can play with, right?), shooting2stars (I hope to have many chapters, especially with summer coming up, but like I said before, life gets in the way), and Rinnala (I'm glad you liked the chapter, it is a bit hard to continue writing, but I'm so excited to have a story like this that the words mostly flow by themselves). Again, review people! Reviewing makes Naruto give you a free ramen pass to Ichiraku's.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Okay; Pay attention. I. Do. Not. Own. Anything. Kapeesh?**

**Warning: Spoilers!**

Ed was mildly annoyed with the whole situation. The books had given him only a small portion of useful information, and now he was supposed to guide the 'Hokage' Kakashi-san to some fancy meeting, that apparently meant (explained by an unenthusiastic Neji) sitting around wasting time while village leaders bickered over the smallest conflicts. As if Ed didn't already waste a lot of time on missions that a certain annoying Colonel sent him on.

He and Al were to attend the meetings pretending to be civilians going to record the events of the meeting- Kakashi-san had said something about blah-blah-blah historic significance mumbo-jumbo. Neji and Shikamaru were going as the two official guards for Kakashi, and Ed and Al were going as back-up, just in case something unexpected happened. Ed supposed that, if he was lucky, he might be able to see more of the 'chakra' the ninja used.

He and Al were in the process of exploring the borders of the village for damage when they noticed a small group of three people. The Elrics nodded at each other in an unspoken agreement to see what was going on- a nice way of saying they were going to eavesdrop on the conversation. As he crept closer, Ed noticed that Naruto was pinned against a building by a dark-skinned woman, with a dark-skinned man a few feet away from the scene.

"…I can't sell Sasuke out." Naruto was saying.

"Quit playing around!" The woman yelled angrily, pushing him against the wall harder. "You can't take it back!" Naruto was silent. "Well? Say something!"

"I know I'm being selfish. But I can't sell out Sasuke."

"Why you-" The woman spoke fiercely, twitching slightly in anger.

"I understand your desire for revenge," Naruto replied, as calmly as he could being pinned to the building. Ed didn't understand it. Who was this Sasuke person? More importantly, how could Naruto be so calm and collected when confronted so aggressively?

"But if you let your hatred rule and kill Sasuke," Naruto continued, "then this time, my comrades may not put up with it! An eye for an eye; the vicious cycle of hatred will start all over again! The people we want to protect will kill each other off one after another!"

"Your Sasuke is the one who started it all!" The woman retorted. "I don't care what you say, we're going to kill Sasuke!" The man was slightly calmer.

"Then where do you suggest we take our hatred?" He asked, the stick of his sucker moving along with his mouth. "How would you take responsibility for it?"

"Beat me up to your heart's content," Naruto replied honestly. "…That's all I can offer." Ed's eyes widened. Naruto would let himself get beat up for this friend of his?

The woman pounded Naruto fiercely, over and over. "You sure know how to say convenient words!" She shouted. "Let's test your theory. See if it would really make me feel better, huh? How's that? And that! And that!" She continued punching him, and Ed winced at every punch, looking away. Al almost ran out to help Naruto, but Ed pulled him back, whispering to his brother.

"It's not our place to interfere, Al! This is Naruto's choice. This is obviously their conflict."

"But-"

"I know, Al. It hurts to watch. To understand both the woman's hate and Naruto's despair. But we don't know anything about this world, let alone this conflict." Ed said sadly, and Al remembered their own battles, and the tragedy of the Ishvalan people; their anger, and sadness. However, he also remembered the hope of the remaining people vividly, their desires to live and go on. Al nodded to his brother in acceptance.

The woman kept at it until at last she was exhausted. "You moron," she spoke between breaths. Naruto stood up with difficulty, trembling as he did so. He was bruised and bloody. "Let me make this clear!" She announced once she had enough oxygen. "No amount of pummeling is going to make me feel better! I won't stop until you start talking about Sasuke!" She threw another punch at Naruto, but before it landed, it was stopped.

A Konoha ninja (identified by the headband with the same symbol as Naruto's) had appeared from out of nowhere and deflected her punch. He had pale skin, with black hair and dark eyes.

"Don't interfere," she said in a deadly tone. "He asked for this."

"Sai, stay out of this," Naruto ordered the ninja.

"Naruto, you don't have to be beat up for Sasuke's sake," the ninja replied coldly.

"Shut up! It's my choice."

"Sasuke… keeps on hurting you over and over again," Sai replied. "If I were you…"

"If you get in the way, we'll beat you up, too!" The woman threatened, throwing a punch at Sai only to be stopped short. Her companion, the dark-skinned man, held her arm back.

"Enough already, Karui," he told her. "Beating them up won't get us anywhere. You should know that." She broke contact with him and turned around as he spoke his next words. "Besides, he promised to help us rescue Killer Bee-sama."

"What? Where's your usual skepticism about promises being honored?" She accused him. "This isn't like you at all!" Naruto sank to his knees, and was supported by Sai.

"No matter what we do, he refuses to sell out his friend," the man replied. "He may be an enemy, but I like guys like him. A man shouldn't be loose with words. However much you thrash him, he won't betray Sasuke. He's the type who means what he says."

A blonde haired woman jumped down from the trees in an instant. "Omoi, Karui," she addressed the two people. "How goes the information gathering?" Seeing Naruto, she added, "I hope you haven't gotten into trouble." The woman shook her head vehemently.

"Nevermind that!" The man said urgently. "We've learned that Killer Bee-sama may be alive! Let's go and save him! First, we have to find the Akatsuki hideout and-"

"And then what? Just the three of us will take on a foe who managed to capture Killer Bee-sama himself? We don't even know how many hideouts the Akatuski have. Where do we start? We need to gather intel and then analyze it. That comes first! We'll take the intel straight to Raikage-sama. There is too much information to sort out." The blonde dictated.

"T-take me with you," Naruto mumbled. "I want to help you guys save your Jinchuriki."

"Naruto!" Sai objected.

"And I… have something I want to discuss with the Raikage."

"Raikage-sama? You've got to be kidding!" Karui exclaimed angrily.

"Karui," the woman admonished, and turned to Naruto. "We don't know enough about you, and with Raikage-sama under minimal guard, there's no way I can have you meet him. Karui, Omoi, let's get going. I need you to help me transfer some notes.

"And I hope you haven't divulged any confidential information here. You have unwanted company." She turned in the direction of the two Elrics, and the two barely dodged the kunai she threw at them. "Come out here, now."

"Well, you're cranky today, aren't you?" Ed replied, stepping out of hiding. Al followed the motion, moving to stand next to his brother.

"Ed! Al! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in his weakened state, blood still slowly dripping down in a few places.

"We were scouting the village and exploring its boundaries." Ed said easily. "We heard a loud commotion and came to see what was up. After we found out, well… it seemed like a good idea not to get involved."

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Al inquired in a worried tone. "She beat you up pretty hard!"

"I'm fine," Naruto said, but Ed was certain it was a lie. After all, the blonde still had a bloody nose, and a few bruises were beginning to show up lightly. He snorted.

"Yeah, like we believe that. You should go to the hospital." Ed turned to the dark-skinned lady. "Look, I have no idea who this 'Sasuke' guy is, but I know that Naruto-kun helped Al and I when we first got here, and he's a really nice guy. If you hurt him again, Al and I won't hold back. We'll give you the beating you deserve for going this far." Ed gave the woman a death glare and turned away, reigning in his desire to punch her into tomorrow. Al gestured to Sai and the boy handed Naruto over to Alphonse.

"The same goes for me," Sai told Karui.

"Sasuke attacked my sensei. We'll do whatever we think will get. Him. Back." She spat out as the group walked away.

"No, take me to Kakashi-sensei and Yamato," Naruto said as they departed.

They'd managed to get Naruto into a tent and Sai bandaged most of the damage. "You should have Sakura-chan take a look at that," Sai advised.

"No, I'm okay," Naruto replied with a grin. "If she sees me like this, it'll just cause more trouble."

"Are you sure?" Al asked doubtfully.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, and Ed was beginning to believe the blond. "Besides, I heal fast." Kakashi and Yamato were present as well. Ed couldn't help feeling that he was missing out on information that everyone except for him and Al knew. Needless to say, it irked him, but he shrugged the feeling off. Everyone had something to hide. He unconsciously touched his right arm with his left hand. No, the Konoha shinobi could keep their secrets just so long as he and Al could keep theirs.

"Sai… what you did earlier, thanks. You too, Al, Ed… although threatening them wasn't really necessary." Naruto spoke.

"If somebody had been a little bit more patient and thoughtful, that wouldn't have happened," Al agreed.

"You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past!" Ed said automatically. Al sighed and shook his head good-naturedly.

"Boy, they really did a number on you." Kakashi interrupted, still gazing at Naruto. Naruto grinned but winced as Sai wrapped part of the bandage too tightly on his arm. Ed almost snickered. For once, he wasn't the one injured. Sai apologized as Kakashi continued. "You'd better take some time to recuperate."

"I'm going to see the Raikage!" Naruto burst out, taking the three shinobi by surprise.

"What are you saying?" Yamato exclaimed. "You're supposed to-"

"Why do you want to see him?" Kakashi questioned.

"I'm going to convince him to forgive Sasuke!" Naruto spoke in a determined manner, the glint of his eyes radiating confidence.

"Right now you don't even have the necklace that restrains the Tailed Beast! A Jinchuriki like you must not leave the village!" There it was, that word again. Ed would have to look it up in the library. Or… he could just ask someone right now, but it seemed like a touchy subject, one as touchy as any questions about Al's armor or Ed's… height would be to the two Elrics. "It was bad enough that during the battle as many as eight tails transformed." More confusion. "We were lucky that the Seal activated in enough time to suppress the Nine-tails, but who knows about next time? I can't stay with you all the time when the village is still in such poor condition." Ed and Al slowly started backing out of the tent.

"I met the Fourth Hokage." That simple sentence froze everyone in the room up. Why was that so significant? Ed wondered, and Al mirrored Ed's thoughts. "That last time," Naruto said, smiling wider, "it was the Yondaime who stopped my Nine-Tails transformation."

"Wh-what does he mean?" Yamato turned to Kakashi, and the Elrics slid forward a little. It seemed as though they might get an explanation after all. "The Yondaime passed away long ago…"

"There are still many mysteries to the Sealing Jutsu, the Reaper Death Seal. He probably sealed his own mental energy into the jutsu." Ed made a mental note to look all of this up later. As the blonde woman had said before, information was vital. Then what the masked man said really sunk into Ed.

"Wait… what? First you ignore the principle of Equivalent Exchange, then you resurrect recently dead people, and now you're telling me that a dead guy from long ago spoke to Naruto? This makes NO SENSE! I've gone mental…" Ed was getting a headache. Al was frozen, blinking several times as the new information clicked.

"This is really weird," Al agreed. "So weird… it shouldn't be possible."

"We'll just take this as our cue to leave." The two Elrics slithered out of the tent dazedly.

"This whole thing is crazy." Ed said dully.

"Yup."

"I bet Truth did this to us on purpose! He probably dropped us off into some half-baked reality just to mess with us. If we ever get home, I'll be greeted as a lunatic instead of a dog of the military. Wonder which one's worse…"

"Come on, Nii-san! We've gotta figure it out!" Al said sharply, shaking his head back and forth to clear it. "There's a plausible explanation for everything; we just don't know it yet!" Ed slowly smiled.

"You're right, Al. I think I know where we'll be spending the rest of the afternoon." Al nodded, and the two headed off.

It was almost six o' clock in the evening when Ed finally looked up from his books. "So, Al, let's recap to make sure we have everything. There are nine Jinchuriki total. Jinchuriki are the humans who hold one of the nine powerful demons, who have the power to kill massive amounts of humans and damage tons of property, entirely changing the landscape of any place they enter. Many people believe that Jinchuriki are the demon itself in a human body, as the art of sealing is a mysterious one that is not fully understood."

"But that one guy, Yamato-san, said that Naruto was a Jinchuriki! Naruto isn't a demon! He's really nice!" Alphonse objected.

"Yeah. Naruto, a demon? Pfft, I don't believe that for one second either, Al. Moving on. A Jinchuriki is sometimes wanted by other villages because the demons inside them are so powerful. This explains why that guy didn't want Naruto-kun leaving the village anytime soon."

"But that doesn't make sense. Naruto-kun is a ninja- don't they go on missions to a lot of villages?"

"Yeah. I don't get it either, Al." Ed sighed, running his hand through his bangs.

"Did you find anything on that Fourth Hokage guy?" Ed asked. "I didn't get around to it."

"Yeah. He was a really strong shinobi, and he was the youngest ever to be a leader of a village until some other guy came along in some other village not too long ago. When the Nine-tails attacked the village, a lot of people died. He sacrificed himself to… destroy the demon, I think it said, which was really weird, because if that was the case, then Konoha wouldn't have a Jinchuriki, and Naruto-kun wouldn't be in this mess." Al informed.

"Meh. It's probably just a cover-up for the masses of civilians to stay calm and ignorant. Heaven knows how much our own government has covered up."

"Most likely." Al sighed. "Who is this Sasuke person?"

"Sasuke was some messed up kid. His entire 'clan'- pretty much all of his relatives and family- were killed by his older brother."

"That's sick." Al said, and Ed agreed. Massacres weren't pretty, and the Elrics had almost been caught in a massive one. He was so grateful that they'd been able to prevent it. However, that one was caused by the homunculi, while this was just mass murder.

"Anyways. Sasuke was the only survivor of the massacre- besides his brother. He was on a ninja team with Naruto-kun and Sakura-san for a while before going rogue to be taught by a powerful creep that committed a bunch of felonies in Konoha several years ago. In the end, he killed his mentor and then went and murdered his older brother, who had joined the Akatsuki." Al nodded. He'd read about them. "That's about it. Oh, and all the information on him that I found was in the restricted section, by the way, so don't go around telling people about it."

"You did what?" Al exclaimed. "Nii-san!"

"Relax, nobody caught me." They fought a bit more before Al finally gave up.

"Why would Naruto continue to be this guy's friend for so long, though?" Al inquired.

"There could be a lot of reasons, Al."

"Because," a new voice said behind them, "Naruto believes he can bring Sasuke back to Konoha. The two had a lot of similarities growing up. They were very close, even though they argued a lot."

"Kakashi-san!" Al exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"There's been a change in plans," Kakashi replied. "And… you two could explain the break-in of the restricted section, I presume?"

**HOHO! And here you guys thought that this fanfic was all about the Elrics. You were wrong! This chapter took forever to write, because I was trying to make sure the dialogue and events were semi-correct (of course it's gonna be a little different, with the Elrics in there) and I had sucky hotel wifi (I was on vacation).**

**Anyways, free Ichiraku ramen passes (as promised) to the following for their reviews: Rinnala (I kinda like your theory, mine is different, but yours was quite interesting and well-thought out), Spyrofan777, St. Iggy the Pyro (I wish I could've had a more epic battle, but what with Kiba flying a hundred feet away it didn't work out, sadly. :C Maybe next time. And at this point, Konohamaru is already a genin, though I was considering having him in the class previously), Kiyiamaru (really? You've never had ramen before? Even the cheap kind?), wishfulliving89, shooting2stars, and Dennisthepinkgoldfish. Contact a toad near you to receive it (yes, I've commissioned/forced Naruto to help me with the distribution of the passes D). **

** Review please! Reviews remind me that I have a story to write that is worth the effort I put into it. Arigato gozaimasu~!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Only if I was related to the two in some way, which sadly I am not. Please R & R!**

Ed and Al were finally on their journey along with the Konoha shinobi, and they had entered into a snowy, cold climate that neither of them enjoyed.

"This is getting to be so cold that Briggs could be just around the corner!" Ed complained.

"Is your arm alright, brother?" Al asked worriedly.

"For now…" Ed muttered. The joints in his arms were already freezing up some, but he wasn't going to tell his brother that. Dang it, though, this was just what he needed.

"There he is!" Yamato whispered. They'd been tracking these nin for a while now, and it had finally been paid off with the presence of the Raikage.

"You actually tailed Kamui. You guys are pretty good," one of the members of the Raikage's guard said.

"Y-you-" sputtered Omoi.

"You're Naruto! You tailed us! What's the big idea?" Kamui yelled angrily.

"Boss," one of the guards to the Raikage spoke to the superior. He had dark skin and white, shaggy hair. "The one on the right is Hatake Kakashi, the new Hokage."

"I know that." The Raikage replied.

"I came to ask you personally about a request by Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf," Kakashi addressed the man. The man's expression hardened.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" He looked at the blonde.

"If you could just hear him out…" Kakashi asked softly.

"Isn't this rude?" The other guard, blonde with light skin, spoke up. "Stopping us on our way to the summit without prior notice."

"I am fully aware of that," Kakashi replied coolly.

"No matter," the Raikage spoke clearly. "You there, boy! Speak!"

"Sasuke… I want you to cancel the disposal of Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto declared, a small bead of sweat appearing on the side of his face despite the cold weather.

"H-hey, this isn't really the place…" Omoi muttered.

"Are you still talking about that?" Karui shook her fist angrily at him.

"You sure got guts," the blonde guard said.

"I know it sounds ridiculous!" Naruto continued. "But this is the only way I know how to say it. Sasuke is my friend! My friend's going to be killed!" Real emotion clouded Naruto's expression. "I can't just stand by and let it happen!"

"On top of that," Naruto said more calmly, "I don't want Sasuke to be the cause of the Leaf and Cloud villages killing each other. I don't want my friends or the Cloud to fight for revenge!" The Raikage closed his eyes a moment, then opened them and walked forward, passing Naruto without a word. Naruto ran to the Raikage's side and stepped in front of the large man, but the man only side-stepped Naruto and continued past him.

Naruto stepped in front of the Raikage again, and after a small pause, knelt into the ground and bowed his head. "I'm begging you!" Ed and Al were stunned, as were the Cloud nin. "All Sasuke ever thought about was revenge!" Naruto continued pleaing to the Raikage's senses. Tears started flowing out of Naruto's eyes, though he tried to hold them back. "Please!"

The man turned back and faced Naruto. "We will dispose of Sasuke! After that, you can stop the cycle of hatred."

The rest of the encounter didn't go well. The Raikage admonished Naruto for bowing, and continued on his way, his ninja following his lead. As Kamui passed him, she muttered, "What a fool."

"Enough already, Naruto," Kakashi said, as the Cloud nin started fading into the background. Naruto pounded his fist into the snow, upset and angry at everything.

"What jerks!" Ed exclaimed. "Can we punch them now?" Al sighed.

"Are you alright?" Al asked. Naruto sat up, nodding, and wiped the tears on his sleeves.

"Right. Yamato, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Alponse! You will rest tonight at an inn not too far from here. Neji and Edward will continue with me on the way to the summit. We can only hope that the summit will go better than this did." Shikamaru balked.

"Ed's going in _my _place?" Shikamaru asked, then brightened. "M'kay, see ya." Naruto looked at him in disbelief. "What? This is less troublesome." Naruto sighed. Same old Shika.

"Ed has unique talents that no one will know about. While I value Nara's insight, I have a bad feeling about this. Neji's Byakugan will remind the other countries that Konoha is a powerful force, and his techniques will protect me best, should I need it. Shikamaru, most of your techniques rely on shadow manipulation, so it relies on lighting, which can be changed to weaken you. Use the time we are gone for training, understood?" The Konoha nin nodded, Shikamaru sighing. Just when he thought he'd gotten out of work.

The groups headed off to their separate destinations, Ed feeling a bit of anxiety at leaving his younger brother. "Be careful," he cautioned.

"I should be saying that to you," Alphonse said with a smile, and turned away to try to cheer up Naruto-kun.

"You two are very close, aren't you?" Neji inquired, and Ed smiled softly.

"Yeah. I'd be pretty lost without him." _Not to mention in deep trouble without Al to hold me back_, he thought wryly. "You have any siblings?" Neji shook his head.

"I… have a cousin…" Neji started, but paused. "I'm not really… close to her family though." Ed waited for him to say more, but he did not. Ed shrugged it off, not caring if the guy didn't want to spill his life story. Actually, it was kind of nice that Neji _didn't_ want to talk. Ed could then focus on the real reason he'd landed in the shinobi world: to figure out how to get Al back to normal without having to give up anything more than he already had. _Could chakra be the answer of correctly blending alchemy and alkahestry?_ Ed had no idea how that popped into his mind, it sounded absolutely insane. It _wasn't_ a chemical process and it was _way_ too easy. If it was that way, then Truth would've only given him one week, not a whole year. Ed would have to read more books, especially if there was some sort of theory or philosophy book that explained the finer details of chakra works.

Kakashi went to sit down among the kages. Neji and Ed took their place behind a large banner. Neji said hello to a guy next to him, and the guy responded, then took a look a Ed. The fellow was wearing black, with a large object strapped to his back… and the top of the object had hair… _please don't let that be a human being_, Ed thought and was almost sick.

"Who're you?" The guy asked. "I don't recognize you, even though you seem to be Naruto's age."

"I'm Ed." The older Elric didn't offer any more information.

"I see." He realized that he might be overstepping his boundaries. "I'm Kankuro, brother to the Kazekage." Ed nodded, pretending to understand what the heck he just said. Neji came to his rescue.

"The Kazekage is the leader of another village, one whom we are allied with."

"Ah." Ed replied.

"You're a strange shinobi if you didn't already know that," Kankuro interjected. "Neji, where'd you pick this weirdo up from?"

"Edward-san-"

"Just call me Ed."

"Ed-san came to our village for… refuge, not too long ago, if I am correct." Neji answered. Kankuro's eyes narrowed. He turned back to Ed.

"Are you a missing nin?" He asked seriously.

"Kankuro!" A blonde girl said sharply. "Quit sticking your nose into Konoha's business. I'm sure that whatever shinobi Kakashi-san wishes to have guard him doesn't have anything to do with Suna."

"Yeah, yeah." Kankuro muttered with a sigh. "That's my older sister, Temari." He informed Ed.

"His older, _wiser_ sister," Temari added.

"Pfft, whatever."

"Oh, you don't think so?" She asked dangerously.

"Hey, who had their butt handed to them by a lazy Nara in the Chuunin Exams? Not me."

"Who didn't even bother to fight in the Chuunin Exams?"

"And wisely saved his energy for the fight later? I thought we were arguing over the smartest sibling, not the bravest."

"If you mean by bravest, the strongest, then yes, that would be me." The two sand siblings continued their petty fight, forgetting the other shinobi entirely.

Finally, the meeting started, on a rather serious note.

**So next up is the five kage meeting! I'm finally in the writing mood again, which means that hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. **

**Thanks again to reviewers: wishfulliving89, RokibaHatake, Dennisthepinkgoldfish, St. Iggy the Pyro (naruto wishes he was as ninja as Kakashi), Spyrofan777 (the fact that you wrote your review in Japanese was amazing and a special treat. Arigato gozaimasu!), mysoulislost375 (no yaoi in this, sorry. I like 'em best as friends. Besides, on what earth would sasuke even deserve naruto?), shooting2stars, Bre, Honey Child (I'm sorry, I probably will give Ed and Al ninja-ness, but I will try and explain it as best as I can so it isn't illogical), and Kiyiamaru. Reviews are more than welcome!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I'm not **_**that**_** insane yet. XD** ** (oh, also, since my line skips haven't been working, this is what I'm using instead)**

**...  
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Naruto was lying down at the inn, angry with himself. Why hadn't he been able to persuade the Raikage to let Sasuke go?

As if reading his mind, Alphonse spoke up. "It's not your fault, Naruto. People are just that stubborn sometimes. There wasn't anything else you could do." Shikamaru nodded.

"It was a long shot anyways. You only had maybe a three percent chance of convincing him to cancel the disposal of Sasuke anyways."

"How'd you come up with that percentage?" Yamato wondered aloud.

"Looking at records of the Raikage's past decisions in his position, it showed that in approximately 91 percent of his decisions, no compassion was shown. Another 5 percent of his dealings showed clearly that not only was no mercy extended towards other parties of interest, but that he was very rash in his judgments and also had a tendency to break things when he was angry."

"That still leaves four percent our way, though." Al pointed out.

"I had to leave one percent for the unexpected, right? Like if, for some reason, one of his guards all of a sudden decided to lop the Raikage's head off, or if a bear ran out of the woods and mauled him."

"Ah," Al and Yamato said with understanding. This still didn't make Naruto feel any better, and he stared up at the ceiling mutely.

"I'm going to go look around," Al said cheerfully. "Be back later." Maybe, if Al was lucky, he could find something cool that would cheer up Naruto. With that, he left.

...

Ed could tell from Neji's expression changes (that were difficult to detect, because Neji's face was for the most part, impassive) that this was something totally unexpected. They were going to let the Kakashi-san lead the Allied shinobi forces?

"If you approve, then I'll accept," Kakashi said after a pause. The Raikage clenched his teeth.

"Why the Hokage?" He growled out. Ed rolled his eyes. _And this is the guy Naruto is trying to plead with?_ If the Raikage had given the idea any thought, he would have seen that Kakashi was a good solution for the forces.

While the Raikage threw a fit, and the representative old-guy explained things to him, Ed became bored and pulled out some paper, sketching a few arrays on them that were theoretical equations that might get him home.

In a blink, the atmosphere changed, and all ninja were on their feet. A plant bloomed in the middle of the room, revealing a man with green hair. "Hallooo!" He said with a grin on his face that Ed didn't like one bit.

"Uchiha Sasuke has snuck in!" The green-haired plant man continued. "Now, where could he be hiding?"

"What?" The Raikage sputtered.

"Sasuke?" Gaara repeated.

"What's he doing here?" Kankuro wondered.

"Let's all go look for Sasuke! Yeah!" Plant man yelled out, becoming the center of attention again. The Raikage grabbed plant-man's throat. Throttling him, the Raikage asked about Sasuke's whereabouts. _Hmm… Sasuke Uchiha… he's quite the character… _Ed thought to himself. _I guess I might get to see him sooner than I thought…_

All the ninja prepared to face him, one man putting his hands into a specific position for a jutsu. "Well, let's go!" The Raikage demanded, punching through a wall and calling his guards to go with him.

"I'm sorry about the wall," one guard said apologetically.

"There's no time for that Darui, come _on_!" The other guard said, running out, and Darui left as well.

...

Shikamaru and Yamato had left the room to give Naruto some space and were conversing in low tones with each other when Al came back in. "Look what I found!" Al said happily, stroking his prize- a cat he had found wandering around the grounds outside.

"A… cat?" Shikamaru asked. "How is that good news?"

"Cat's are amazing!" Al responded. "I'm going to go show Naruto."

"Whatever," the spiky-haired ninja responded as Al took off towards their room.

Al entered to find Naruto up and running towards a suspicious-looking masked man. Naruto thrust some sort of attack at the man only to run into the wall. Al dropped the cat (who, turning, hissed at him) and ran to the spiky blonde.

"A rasengan right off the bat, huh?" A voice said from above, and they turned to find the man above them, by the hole Naruto had made. Wood burst out of nowhere and wrapped around the man. Al wondered if that was a jutsu or alchemy.

More wood burst from the wall and caged Naruto and Alphonse. Yamato appeared in front of them. "Stay put," the wood user commanded, and turned to face the masked man.

"You do know, right? No attack works against Madara Uchiha." The man replied to his opponent. _Uchiha? He's related to Sasuke, then!_ Al thought, remembering the information he and his brother had found. It was then that Al noticed a frustrated Shikamaru in the shadows; trying to do something- Al didn't know what- in vain.

"We won't let you have Naruto, no matter what!" Yamato said determinedly._ He wants Naruto… and he's wearing that cloak… is he a member of Akatsuki?_

"I'd rather talk right now, not fight," the masked man said.

"Talk?" Yamato asked skeptically.

"Yes. What was it that made Pein- no, Nagato- turn into a traitor?" Oh, so the guy _was _a part of Akatsuki. "Naruto… you've made me curious."

"Who cares about that?" Naruto replied brashly. "Tell me what you intend to do with Sasuke!"

"Sasuke, huh? Okay, I'll tell you about the man whose hatred of the ninja world runs through his bones to the very core. About Sasuke Uchiha. But his story can't be told without mentioning the truth of Itachi Uchiha."

...

"We're going, too!" Kakashi announced, following the path the Raikage had made. "Neji, Edward, hurry!" Kakashi sprang forward, launching himself down the hall. Neji was moving a moment later, and Ed clapped his hands together to transform the material around him, bringing up the rear.

"Elric, listen closely. I'm sure you know this, but Sasuke is a missing-nin of Konoha that we cannot allow to go free. I would like to capture him if possible, but if there's no other way, kill him. Understood?" Kakashi informed Ed, who nodded. "Same goes to you, Hyuuga." Neji grimly assented.

Ed came to a hole in the floor in front of them. The group of three looked down to see a shocking scene below.

**So here is the new chapter! Not the longest, but it'll do. Sorry to leave you all on a cliffy. Thanks to my fantastic reviewers: Spyrofan777 (ah, yes, good old google. Still though, I'm impressed that you did the work of going there just for a review. Makes me feel special. :D), shooting2stars (sorry I was slow getting this chapter up), fayfan (I can barely read a bit of hiragana, limited Japanese. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to take a real Japanese class instead of self-studying. Have fun in your class!), musician-CEOwannabe (thanks for the kind words), and StarKiss666 (no offense, but I really don't like Sakura. At all. Whatsoever. But Gaara is a fantastic character, I agree on that.)**


	9. Chapter 9: Meet the Uchiha

**Yosh! I'm back! Feels good… but I still don't own anything except my own plot, so maybe I don't feel _that_ good…**

***** (this is my new 'change in scene' notification)**

"What the heck is that?" Ed looked down at an orange-haired bug guy. He had chakra sprouting out of his back and empty, yellow eyes. Just then, the Raikage- who had chakra enveloping his entire body in a blur of blue- squished bug-guy until the guy was unconscious. Both looked very strange. Besides that, though, the Raikage's speed was no joke.

Looking around, he also saw that some white haired guy was fighting the Raikage's assistant- Ed recalled that his name was Darui… Were all ninja this fast? Ed frowned. He and Al had been physically training themselves to their limits for years, and had gotten nowhere near that quick. Perhaps chakra could do more than he realized.

"Kakashi-sensei." Neji looked at the man for direction. "What do we do?"

"Stay here for now. We'll wait until we're needed, and see what tricks Sasuke pulls out against the Raikage." Ed agreed with the statement.

"So… erm, I'm guessing that the moody, lightning-sword-wielding kid is Sasuke?"

"Yes."

"Huh. Naruto's best friend?" Kakashi looked down for a moment, and Neji closed his eyes for a moment.

"…Well, Naruto thinks so, at least." Neji finally answered, staring at the Uchiha. "Can you see the hate burning in his eyes? It's tearing Naruto apart." Ed nodded mutely, but he wasn't sure that the Hyuuga saw him, no matter how great the Hyuuga eyes were. They seemed to be clouded with memories.

Then the black haired boy was picked up by the Raikage, turned upside down, and thrust into the ground. Hard. All Ed could think was _ouch._ That had to hurt. The ground crumbled from the force, for heavens sake.

And then Sasuke grew a giant purple skeleton around himself. "He's awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan!" Neji hissed quietly. Ed did a double take. These ninja were something else. On the bright side, Ed couldn't wait to do something like that himself. With the jutsu he could learn he could reach new levels of butt-kicking Elric style. He wondered how well jutsu would work with alchemy. It would be interesting, to say the least.

The Raikage was still after Sasuke. Well, Ed would give him points for persistence. Unfortunately, Sasuke started making black flames, so he got more points for the sheer awesomeness of it.

Then Sasuke used his flames to annihilate some of the samurai guards. Ed immediately lost any respect the black-haired boy had going for him. The Uchiha needed a serious smack-down. It looked like the Raikage was going to give it to him, sticking his arm into the black flames, but when he went to hit the Uchiha (likely with enough force to maim or kill) sand prevented him from doing so.

The Kazekage had arrived. Kankuro and Temari rescued one of the samarai, taking off the man's armor before the black flames spread to his body. "You samarai, get back. This is a problem for the shinobi world. There is no need for samarai to become casualties." Ed thought that it was a bit late for that.

"Why did you interrupt?" The Raikage gave a feral growl and glared at the red-headed leader of Suna.

"You were about to receive further injury from Amaterasu." Huh, so that was what it was called. "Besides, I wish to speak to Uchiha Sasuke." Ed missed Gaara's next words because he was distracted by the Raikage. The Raikage had cut off his arm that was infected with the black flames. The man didn't scream, or flinch, or even wince! He'd just cut off his right arm! _What is wrong with these people? _Oh, at least one of his assistants appeared to be a medic. But still, it was absolute insanity, and no one else even reacted to it. Ed fought off a shiver.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Itachi was a good guy? It just didn't make any sense! The whole picture was wrong- and besides, the Third was an old geezer, but he was a _nice_ old geezer. There was no way he'd ever give such an evil command. It was a really strange tale, but Naruto couldn't completely discount it as false because it did explain why the Uchiha had always seemed isolated from the rest of Konoha. What did that mean?

"It's not a lie," the masked man nodded solemnly. "He died for Sasuke's sake and the Leaf village." Shock registered on Shikamaru's face, but Alphonse saw something else there too. Understanding.

Al himself was surprised, but sadly, not by much. Maybe it was because he had never known Sasuke or Itachi Uchiha. Or maybe he had gotten used to it. After all, his own government had been corrupted and controlled. Why should the ninja one be any different?

As Uchiha Madara (as he so revealed himself to be) started talking about the Uchiha vs. the Senju and Naruto vs. Sasuke battle that would be dictated by fate, Naruto snapped. "I don't believe in that sort of Fate crap! I'll bring him back to Konoha, _alive_, and then you'll see. Sasuke's nothing like you! Get over yourself."

"Interesting. Well talking to you has been quite fun, if… meaningless." Then the masked man disappeared.

"Wonder where he's going now…" Al hoped he wasn't going to the five Kage meeting. Though on further thought, he probably was. Ed could handle himself, though, and Kakashi- being elected the Hokage temporarily- would be strong enough to protect his older brother if anything bad were to happen.

"Don't believe him until we've checked the facts," Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "For now, it's only a possibility." Naruto nodded.

"But if it's true… then what does that mean?"

"It means that you might have to fight for what you believe in," Alphonse replied. "Brother and I found out that our country was corrupted, that an evil man was in power. He was taken out, and a better man has replaced him." Al remembered the day Grummans became Fuhrer, and then later stepped down and appointed Mustang Fuhrer. That only happened about two and a half months ago, really.

"That's not going to happen," Yamato assured them. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Besides, Kakashi-san is the acting Hokage, and he had nothing to do with the Uchiha massacre. He's a good man to follow." Naruto grinned, and nodded.

"That's certainly true."

"Speaking of him, he needs to be informed of the events that have just transpired. Shikamaru, that's your job; and stick around him if you're needed."

"Right." The spiky haired boy took off. Yamato turned to Alphonse and Naruto.

"Don't think about doing anything rash while Nara's gone. We'll just take it easy here." Yamato walked over to the side of the room and opened his backpack. Turning, he tossed two scrolls, one to Naruto and one to Alphonse.

"Study these, for now. Knowing another jutsu never hurts, you know. Naruto, the one you have is B-rank, so be careful. Alphonse-san, that explains the tree-walking exercise, which helps with chakra control. Naruto can help you if you need it."

"Where are you going, Yamato-taichou?"

"I'm going to scout the perimeter a bit; make sure he still isn't around. I'm also a sensory type ninja. I'll be back later." Yamato flickered, and disappeared into the woods.

"Your eyes… are still the same as they were before," the Kazekage told Sasuke.

"That's a cryptic message," Ed snorted to himself quietly.

"Not at all," Neji replied softly. "Gaara-san was once like Sasuke. I suppose I was, too, in a way." Ed sat quietly, retreating into his own thoughts for a moment. He snapped out of it when the black-haired boy used Purple Skeleton Thing to crush the pillars.

"He's trying to collapse the building!" Someone yelled, and Ed only paused for a second before clapping his hands together and touching the ground. Blue sparks erupted, and the ceiling stabilized.

"There goes our cover," Neji muttered. Kakashi stood.

"No matter. Good job, Edward." He nodded at the praise. Kakashi jumped down, and so did Neji. Ed used alchemy to bring himself down. He really had to figure out this whole chakra thing that gave the shinobi weird, almost superpower abilities. He thought he might have some of the basics figured out.

"Gaara-san," Kakashi nodded his head politely to the red-head. Kakashi then turned his attention to the Uchiha. "Sasuke."

"Kakashi."

"You've made yourself the enemy of Konoha. Why?"

"You're _precious_ village destroyed Itachi's happiness. I want revenge for my brother!"

"What are you talking about, Sasuke?"

"You don't even know what your own village did to him? Some Hokage you are," Sasuke laughed.

"An answer, Sasuke."

"Itachi wasn't evil. The Uchihas were planning a coup d'etat and the council knew it," he growled. "So they took their _favorite_ Uchiha and _kindly asked_ _him to be a double spy_. Then they had him murder his entire clan. Oh, and finally they had the guts to push all the blame on him, and exile him from the village that he _saved_."

"Hmm… haven't heard that one before," Kakashi muttered smoothly. "Fine. I'll do some research later to see if you're correct. The real question, though, is why you're here. Why do you want to take out the five Kage?" Huh, this was news to Ed. He must have missed it earlier. Oh well.

"It was my assignment." Great, more cryptic messages! Was it part of the job? Ed bet it was in the training. He snorted as he thought of it being on a shinobi exam. _Give two examples of cryptic messages that only select shinobi would understand._

And then Sasuke proceeded to challenge each of the Kage's there. Oh, and now the other Kage's were arriving. Lovely.

He truly was astonished when- was it the Mizukage?- shot lava out of her mouth. That was pretty cool. Kakashi was top-notch as well, using lightning-style jutsu. However, it seemed like Sasuke was expecting it and countered with a lightning-charged sword. And the Kage's assistants were nothing to sneeze at either. Ed was filled with relief when he found that the body-like object that Kankuro had strapped to him was a puppet.

Then the old man, Tsuchikage, did an atom-blaster jutsu, and Sasuke was essentially vaporized. It was somehow… anticlimactic. Odd. Ed supposed he could work with that. One less problem to worry about in this dizzying world. Obviously, though, Neji didn't think that way.

"What the…? It can't be. Sasuke… Naruto, he was supposed to… deal with Sasuke. Bring him back." Neji shook his head. The Kazekage's eyes lowered as well.

"It was for the best. He would've been wanted in every country for attacking the Summit."

"No, Sasuke's not dead." Ed looked up at Kakashi. He didn't look the type to be in denial, so what was he…?

"Correct, Kakashi-san." Ed looked around for the voice, and suddenly a man with an orange mask stood in front of them. Said man was dressed in what Ed assumed to be the Akatsuki cloak he had read about in the restricted section of the library back in Konoha. An unconscious Sasuke was thrown over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

"Tobi."

"Ah, Kakashi-san. Actually, Madara is my real name, if you wouldn't mind."

"Ma-Madara?" Temari gasped. "He's- dead."

"Long dead." Kakashi agreed.

"Who are you, really?" The Mizukage narrowed her eyes.

The masked man sucked Sasuke into his eye. Ed wasn't even going to ask how _that _was possible. The novelty of impossibilities was starting to wear off for him. "I am Uchiha Madara."

"That was the Transportation technique," Neji muttered softly. Louder, he asked, "Why do you want Sasuke?"

"I like to stock up on good eyes." Ed mentally added this to his List of Cryptic Messages. "Few have the power to use Susano'o, and I wanted him to hone those abilities. I sent him on this mission."

"A suicide mission!" Kankuro snarled brashly.

"He's still alive now, is he not? The purpose of his mission was actually to weaken you all so that I could take you hostage, but it appears that it is still not possible yet."

"Why would you want to take us hostage?" The old Tsuchikage spoke while levitating in the air. The old man rocked up and down ever so slightly in the air. Then the masked man talked about some plan he had, and Ed rolled his eyes instinctively. He had run into these annoying I'm-going-to-rule-the-world crackpots before. Some were amusing, some were annoying, and some were just plain sick in the head. He'd have to wait and see which type this guy was. The psycho started talking about how everything would become one in him, uniting all, blah blah blah. Then he talked about the Ten-Tails, a monster that the Sage of the Six Paths conquered. It was a combination of every tailed beast in existence, possessing huge power. Gaara, the Kazekage, had once had one in him, and Naruto had one in him still. If Ed had had any lingering doubts on whether Naruto was a Jinchuriki or not before, it was gone now.

He kept talking, calm as anything, as Neji's thoughts raced in horror. Uchiha Madara was planning on taking the entire world into his palm, and his plans were big. Neji shivered.

**Wahoo! Longest chapter yet. Kind of a headache because I forgot how hard it is to get these chapters up and going. I attended a writers conference awhile ago, and now I'm writing way better! My favorite part of this chapter was using a simile to liken Sasuke to a sack of potatoes. It's something I've always wanted to do. Thank you all for reading, especially my wonderfully fantastic reviewers!**


	10. Al's Insight And Izumi's Twin

"And... you're an idiot." Everyone turned to look at Ed. "What? Don't tell me I'm the only one thinking it. By the way, could you do us all a favor? Just drop the Uchiha off here, and we'll give him a lift back to Happy Valley Konoha. Call it an early birthday present."

"You're pretty cocky for a civilian," the masked man replied. They were now back in the original meeting room, confronting the 'villain'.

"I'm not a civilian."

"Fascinating." Ed rolled his eyes at the sarcasm. "But I'm afraid Sasuke and I must be off." Cue the disappearing act, complete with smoke clouds.

"Edward," Kakashi rumbled, "you should be a little more cautious." Ed just shrugged, and sighed as everyone started talking business. As he was starting to doze off, Shikamaru Nara slid into the seat next to him.

"Hey, you came at a good time," Ed told him. "Nap time is just starting."

"Oh, good." Shikamaru deadpanned. "Hey, has a masked man by the name of Madara Uchiha shown up here by any chance?"

"Gosh, how did you know?" Shikamaru sighed in response.

"Troublesome. What's going on now?"

"They're bickering over who should be leader of an alliance made up of all the countries." Shikamaru raised one eyebrow, and then rested his head against the table.

"Joy."

"My thoughts exactly."

...

"Hey, Al! We're back!" Ed announced, smile plastered on his face. Yamato and Naruto stepped out of the inn. "Hey... where's Al?"

"Up here," a voice giggled. Ed looked above him to see his brother standing upside down on a tree branch. For a moment, he wondered how it could support the weight of a whole armor suit. Then again, it didn't really matter.

"How did you do that? I thought life force couldn't be replaced."

"Actually, chakra comes flows throughout your body in veins. The largest source of it is in a cavity at the center of your body. The bottom of the cavity is life force; irreplaceable. But there's a layer of replaceable energy on top that can expand. To access it, you need to jump start it using special techniques. It was all in this scroll that Yamato-san let me borrow." Alphonse climbed back down the tree and picked up a scroll at the base of it. He handed it to Edward.

Fifteen minutes later, Edward Elric was standing upside down on a tree branch. "Ha! This'll show those Xingese losers who's boss!"

"Brother, don't insult foreigners just because you don't understand them."

"I understand foreigners! Just look at how well we've gotten along here! It's just that guy with shifty eyes. Don't tell me you like him?" Al sighed.

"His name is Ling, and you should treat others with respect."

"Whatever. After all, I'm not going to marry one of them."

"May is a very nice girl," Al sniffed, "and besides, she might change her mind as she grows up."

"Not to interrupt, but we've packed everything and we are ready to leave. Unless you'd rather be left behind..." Kakashi drawled. Ed opened his mouth to unleash a retort, but at that moment, his feet became unstuck and he dropped like a rock. Fortunately, his little brother caught him... after Ed had screamed like a little girl.

"You sure have got some lungs, haven't you, Elric?" Neji Hyuuga sighed, stepping out of the inn with the rest of the group behind him.

"Shut up, Blank-Eyes!"

"Aha! See, I'm not the only one who thinks your eyes are freaky, Neji!" Naruto cheered loudly. Shikamaru and Yamato sighed simultaneously. It was going to be a long trip back.

...

They were on their way into the Hokage's tower the next morning when a pink-haired girl stopped them. Ed recalled seeing her before. Alphonse remembered her, too. "Sakura-san?"

"Tsunade woke up!" Sakura blurted. "She's awake, and by this afternoon she should be well enough to take on Hokage duties." Naruto cheered.

"Oh, what a relief." Kakashi smiled, but Ed had a feeling that underneath that obviously fake smile, the man was crying tears of joy. Maybe that was why three fourths of his face was always covered. "Can we go see her?"

"Of course." As Sakura took them up to the hospital, Ed's mind started to wonder. What kind of woman was their leader? Deceptive, like Kakashi? Brilliant, like Shikamaru?

No, she was like Izumi Curtis. With narrowed eyes and a commanding presence, the fierce blonde could be Izumi's best friend. When she punched Naruto into a wall for being disrespectful, he didn't even bat an eye.

"Who're you? Armor Suit and Blondie?" she demanded.

"We're the Elric brothers. All we want is access to your library. You can thank us for raising your village up from the dirt later." Ed sassed her because, after all, if he could survive Teacher? He could survive anybody, even her blonde twin.

"You're a construction worker?" she scoffed.

"We're alchemists." Cue eyebrow raise.

"We use alchemy...it's kind of like chakra?" Al guessed. "We're not really sure how the two are connected. Basically, we can move and reshape things instantly, as long as we know what they are made of." She nodded.

"You two are dismissed. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Yamato are dismissed as well." Naruto whined as the four of them exited. Ed ignored him.

"Hey," Al wondered aloud, "If Kakashi was voted to lead the Allied Forces, and Tsunade is the real Hokage... what's gonna happen now?" Yamato paused for a moment, and then answered.

"They'll need to revote." Shikamaru and Ed just looked at each other.

"...You have got to be kidding me." Shikamaru shook his head. Ed face-palmed.

"Truth must really hate me."

...

**Phew! This chapter was kind of difficult. I finally decided to cut off from canon and take things off on my own. Now I have no idea how close I'll stick to it... oh well, I'll figure that out later. Thanks for reading!**


	11. The New Mentor

"So, the Kazekage will lead the Allied Forces?" Ed asked.

"That's what it sounds like." Shikamaru answered.

"The Kazekage will do a good job," Chouji added, before eating another chip. The three were cloud watching, to Ed's relief. This was his kind of deal. Sitting back and relaxing for a moment. When was the last time he had done this? He rolled his shoulders and found some of the knots loosening. He sighed in peace.

In the next moment he was assaulted by green spandex. "What the he- Alphonse?!" Ed sat up as his brother sailed in next to a green-clad shinobi.

"Nii-chan! This is Rock Lee, and he's showing me how to enhance _all_ our moves with chakra. He's fast like you wouldn't believe!"

"Please, join the fire of our youth, older Elric!" Spandex suit cheered. Ed only had to give the guy one look before his decision was made.

"No."

"But Nii-chan-"

"You can teach me later, Al. Me, I've got, ah, important skills and strategies to be learned from Shikamaru."

"Oh, I understand. I'll catch up with you later, Nii-san!" The two flickered away and Ed laid back down.

"Nice work, Elric." Shikamaru complimented.

"Eh, it was easy." Ed shrugged, and let the morning sun wash over him. "...I hate waking up."

"Same here. Good times, eh?"

"Oh, yeah." With a little luck, Ed could catch a nap.

It was two hours later when Ed met back up with Alphonse. "Ed, the Hokage wants to see us," his younger brother told him.

"Goody," he yawned. "Guess we'd better go see what she wants."

...

"Enter, Elrics." Ed and Alphonse stepped into the Hokage's office.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" Alphonse inquired.

"Sit down." The brothers complied. "I've been apprised of your situation, and I'd like to thank you for your aid to Konoha thus far. However, rules were trampled over and discarded in your case. Tell me everything you've learned since about the Leaf Village and the shinobi arts." Ed sighed and went into report mode.

"We first encountered jutsu when we saw Naruto use it, and used our alchemy to keep up with him. Since then, we have taken basic Academy lessons from Iruka-sensei, studied various jutsu theories in the residential libraries, and mastered chakra techniques from a scroll Yamato-taichou gave us."

"And about the Leaf Village? What else did you learn from our library?"

"We know the basic history about the first four Hokage's, as well as Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki. We've heard about Uchiha Sasuke and the possibility of Uchiha Itachi's true purpose for massacring the Uchiha clan. We've seen Konoha clan techniques at work and... none of this information is helping our case, is it?" Tsunade made a noise in the back of her throat.

"Yes and no," she sighed. "You know way too much for us to just let you go free- you'd give away secret information under certain mind techniques. You're both unusually old to be learning ninja techniques to get very far in the shinobi ranks... yet your 'alchemy' seems to supplement your skills, or lack thereof, well enough. For now, I'm going to enroll you into a private mind defense course. If you can protect your minds, I'll re-evaluate your freedom. From this moment on, you are under Konoha's jurisdiction. Leave the village without a jonin escort, and we'll regard you as we would a missing nin. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Dismissed. Your first mind defense class starts tomorrow morning. Eight o' clock sharp. Don't be late." Tsunade snickered. "Trust me, death might be a better option." As the two Elrics left the building, Ed couldn't help but be grateful that Izumi Curtis had chosen to become a housewife rather than a military commander. Still, he'd rather have Tsunade as his superior rather than the Colonel- she didn't make wise cracks about his height. Or at least, she hadn't yet.

"Hey, Al?"

"Yes, Nii-chan?"

"Since we'll be doing some wonky mind stuff tomorrow, let's spar today. Don't wanna get out of shape if all we're learning is in the brain."

"You're on, Nii-chan!" It didn't take long to find a training spot (being a _ninja_ village, after all). The two brothers squared off against each other and the spar began when Ed clapped his hands together to make a blade.

Ed rushed his brother, and Alphonse blocked the blade with his right arm, delivering a punch to his brother's stomach. He hesitated to do anything more, and the older Elric used it to his advantage, sweeping Al's leg out and toppling him over. Ed delivered a hard kick to his brother that sent Alphonse rolling. Al used the momentum to right himself, and as Ed ran in for a punch with his left hand, his younger brother jumped up and stuck his feet to the tree behind him. Ed ended up punching the tree instead and cursed, nursing his hand.

"Are you okay, Nii-chan?"

"Yeah, I've just gotta be more careful next time. Round Two?" Al nodded and they started all over again. As they fought, they failed to notice a spectator watching the fight from a distant tree.

"So these are the brats Tsunade-sama wants to teach," the person muttered, and ripped off some dango from its stick. A smirk formed. "This should be fun."

**The next chapter's going to be so much fun to write. . Hopefully I'll get it up on or by Christmas break (Happy Holidays, my friends!). After all, you guys deserve it. I'm super sorry I haven't updated lately (uuugh, life just HAS to get in the way of writing fanfictions), and that's why I'm trying to get the next chapter to you as soon as possible. Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks to my awesome reviewers. When I get a review, I get all happy inside and remember 'oh yeah, I should be writing'. Cue guilt trip, results in next chapter getting written and posted. **

**An alert gets you a cookie, a review gets you a SNOWMAN made of cookies (a cookie-man?). **


	12. We're Going To Die

"Come on, Nii-san, wake up!" Al yelled at him again, and Ed finally rolled up. They'd finally got an apartment in Konoha, and his younger brother had been yelling at him for the last fifteen minutes. Ed almost fell over- he'd forgotten he was on the top of the bunk bed.

"Please tell me you made breakfast," he grumbled as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Well, _somebody_ had to. Grab the orange juice for me?" Ed fought back a yawn and grabbed the juice out. Al set him out eggs and a side of rice.

"How long do we have?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Aw, man. I could've slept in for another five minutes."

"_Brother_." If he was Winry, Al would have hit him with a wrench right then. Man, he missed Winry. Not so much the wrench part, but her and Granny's place. Well, got to keep walking forward. He shoveled the food down his mouth and prepared to leave.

The Torture and Interrogation Corps wasn't exactly new to the Elrics- Ed had been part of the military, after all. That didn't mean either brother liked the place, though. But Ed strode in anyways, hands in his pockets. He fingered his state alchemist watch.

"Name?" The shinobi behind the desk asked them.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric."

"Upstairs and to the left," she waved them through. When the two walked into the designated room, a scarred man faced them.

"Hello. You two are the Elrics?"

"Yup. Are you our teacher?" The scarred man's face twitched once, like he was fighting off a grin.

"No. Your teacher prefers a more… theatrical appearance." He sighed and leaned against the window. As equally casual, he slid open the window and a woman crashed in and slipped on the floor. The woman cursed.

"Aw, really Ibiki?! You ruin all my fun." She cursed again. He rolled his eyes.

"Someone has to. You've already broken two windows in the last month. Do you really want to keep paying for broken windows, Anko?"

"Keeps people on their toes," she argued.

"Not when it becomes a habit," he answered. She turned to the Elrics and brightened.

"Hey, Kiddos. I'm Anko-sensei, and you're mine now. I get to abuse you this day and every day that I want." She smiled, but then frowned. "Since I've been taken off duty," she spat at Ibiki.

"We all have to try something new once in a while. You'll be back soon enough. Besides," he grumbled, "it was about time the interns got a break from you."

"I knew it. You did have ulterior motives!"

"Yes, Anko, like the survival of our interrogation force." He rolled his eyes. "Now get back to work. I don't have time this morning."

"Love you, Ibiki!" She wheeled back on the Elrics. "Alright, I'm no Yamanaka, but I've held up my own pretty well. I'm Mitarashi Anko-sensei, the Dango Queen of the Leaf Village and Ibiki's right hand in the T&I corps. Tell me your names and whatever else you like."

"Edward Elric."

"Alphonse Elric."

"Man, you guys are boring," she snorted. "We're going to have fun here. First thing's first: for today, you'll be serving your punishment."  
>"Punishment for what?" Ed demanded.<p>

"Oh, you don't know?" she crooned. "You already failed my test."

"How?" Al asked.

"Yesterday. I was watching you guys, and you didn't even notice my presence. Rule number 1, pansies: always be aware of who and what is around you. So today, we'll be working on that. By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be so aware people will think you're paranoid. Follow me to our training grounds."

Anko led them up to a large fence. "Okay, kiddos, listen up. This is your only warning. This place is called the Forest of Death, and for good reason. Your goal is to escape me and survive. Got it?" Both Elrics nodded. She unlocked the gate for them. "Go. I'm giving you three to five minutes head start."

"Come on!" Ed and Al shot off into the forest. "This shouldn't be too much of a problem, eh? After what Teacher did to us, this should be a piece of cake!"

"I don't know, Nii-san, but we'd better find some better cover quick. I don't think Tsunade-sama or Ibiki were kidding about Anko-sensei." They scrambled deeper into the forest.

"Man, we shouldn't have sparred yesterday after all. 'Mind defense' indeed. Alright, I think we're far enough," Ed nodded to his brother, and clapped his hands. He made a large ditch they jumped into, and with another clap they were inside a hole under the dirt floor. Ed held up a finger to his lips. They waited for about a minute before a kunai burst through the ceiling.

"Found you, kiddies!" Anko cackled. "Pathetic." Ed and Al clapped simultaneously to turn the hole into a tunnel with multiple paths. They chose one on the left and ran through it, clapping to further it.

Anko burst through the ceiling and grabbed the back of Ed's shirt. She yanked him out. "Brother!" Al shouted, and exited the tunnel.

"Trying to make a labyrinth was clever, but the goal of the exercise is to sense where I am, baka." She punched him and sent him flying. "Try again, shortie!"

"Oh, no," Al mumbled. Ed righted himself from the ground.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE ESCAPES THE WRATH OF A SHOE BECAUSE HE FITS INTO THE GROOVES!" Ed screeched. "That's it, no more running. We can take her, Al!" He clapped and turned his right arm into a blade. Anko giggled.

"You think you're going to beat a jonin? Bring it, pint-sized brat." Ed rushed in.

"If I could survive Teacher, I can beat you," Ed snarled. She parried his blade with a kunai, and shoved him in the stomach.

"All talk and no action. Prove it. I'm barely using genin moves against you, midget." Ed clapped his hands together and a bunch of spikes rose up from the ground. "Ooh, _pointy objects, _I'm so _scared_." Anko laughed. For the next ten minutes, Ed put everything he had into his alchemy to force her down. Finally, he trapped Anko against a tree. He smirked.

"Not so tough now, are ya?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you say something? You're so small I couldn't hear you." She smiled sweetly, and interrupted Ed's retort. "Play time's over. It's my turn, now." Anko jerked her shoulder forward and Ed's rock hand broke away. The older Elric backed up and took a defensive stance. Anko summoned some large snakes to her.

"Nii-san?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Can we run now?"

"Sure, why not?" Anko's snakes gave chase as the Elrics darted off. Anko herself was equipped with painful senbon to keep them moving. Anko stood next to a tree, smiling to herself.

"I wonder when they'll figure out it's a shadow clone. Oh, well. I think it's time for more dango." She strode off. She'd come back for them in a few hours.

...

Five hours later she reappeared, switching so flawlessly between her double that the two Elrics couldn't tell. She kept up the chase for fifteen more minutes. Huh, the brats had made progress after all. Good for them, they were starting to sense where she was and where she aimed for. Plus, they were still conscious- a great feat, indeed. Maybe they weren't such pansies after all.

"Okay, training's over!" she called out, and summoned her snakes back to her. "Get something to eat and meet me over here at eight a.m. for the rest of the week. Welcome to the world of shinobi."

"For the love of all that is holy, it's over!" Ed cheered, falling flat on his face. Al sank down next to him.

"She's just like Teacher, Nii-san."

"No, she's not. She's like Teacher on drugs! We're gonna be dead by the end of it."

"...Erm, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger?"

"That was a question, not a statement."

"Yeah..." Alphonse helped his older brother up and they headed back into town to get some food.

Ed was limping through the village when a loud voice caught his and Al's attention. Naruto ran up to them. "Hey, what's up? I just finished eating at Ichiraku's." Ed muttered something under his breath. "Umm, didn't catch that."

"Our new sensei-"

"Oi! Naruto, weird-o brothers, what're you up to?" Team 8 and the Ino-Shika-Cho team were walking up the other way.

"We're the Elrics!" Ed found the energy to protest.

"Not much," Naruto replied to Kiba. "But Ichiraku still makes heaven in a bowl!" The blond girl by Shikamaru rolled her eyes.

"You _still_ haven't learned the importance of a balanced diet? How are you still alive? Even Chouji eats a variety of foods."

"I don't eat ramen all the time!" Naruto objected. "Besides, ramen is the food of the gods!"

"So loud," Shikamaru muttered. "What've you been up to?"

"Eh, I hung out with Konohamaru earlier. It was pretty fun."

"We're eating," Ed stated, and turned towards a food stand.

"What killed you?" Kiba joked.

"Mitarashi Anko." The blond girl gasped.

"Anko-san? How did you end up with her?" Ed raised one eyebrow.

"You know her?"

"Know her? Most of my clan works with Anko and Ibiki."

"Yeah, well, I'm-so-sadistic-you-won't-know-what-hit-you Tsunade decided that Al and I needed to be taught 'mind defense'. Anko's our masochistic sensei." Kiba was sympathetic- even he had heard tales of her.

"We'll miss you. Don't worry, you'll have a nice funeral."

"Oi! You need to have faith in yourselves, dattebayo!"

"We _need_ to eat." Ed pushed Naruto out of the way. He ordered three plates of food, and was halfway done with the last one when he noticed the group of shinobi was still there. "What do you want? It's not like Al and I are gonna get lost or something."

"Riiiiiight. See you later." The group left the Elrics. When the brothers were out of earshot, Ino leaned over to Hinata.

"Did you see the armor guy? Why doesn't he eat?" she whispered. Hinata shrugged and gave a look over her shoulder.

"I don't know, Ino-chan. Maybe he ate earlier?"

"Maybe," Ino replied doubtfully. "Wasn't there something off about his footsteps? It sounded almost hollow."

"I wouldn't pry, Ino-chan."

"Yeah, you're probably right." **  
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**As promised, here is the next chapter for you all! I'm pleased to have put it up this soon, especially with it being one of the longer chapters. Any likes for sadistic Anko? She's a lot of fun to write. An alert gets you an hour with Itachi, a review gets you a day with him. See you guys next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

Ed scowled as he limped into town, Al by his side. Anko had been chasing them around all week. By now, they were picking up on her movements enough that she was taking them seriously instead of toying with them. Or at least, that's what Ed assumed, as her cackles died down to a sickening smirk. Well, at least she wasn't laughing at them anymore. She still made cracks about his height, though. Ed ground his teeth together at the thought.

He and Alphonse plopped down at another food stand and ordered five of whatever the place had. Shikamaru and Chouji sat down beside them. "Yo, Elrics."

"Shikamaru, Chouji." Al greeted with a tired smile. He, too, was not immune to Anko's cruelty.

"So, what's life like for you, when your teacher isn't out to murder you?" Ed asked.

"Well, Iwagakure didn't like the idea of the Kazekage leading the Allied forces, so they pulled out," Shikamaru complained. "If one more village pulls out, the Alliance is going to collapse." He and Chouji ordered their food.

"You'd think against an opponent like Madara these places could all band together," Ed muttered. Shikamaru sighed in agreement.

They talked over food, and the Elrics bid the two goodnight. They needed to be up to par with Anko in the morning, so they needed all the sleep they could get. As annoying as it was to have their apartment stacked to the ceiling with unread books, research would have to wait. Survival came first.

"Well, well, well. Look who came crawling back. I'm surprised you actually showed up. What with being such a shrimp, it must've taken you twice the effort to get here." Tick marks dotted Ed's forehead. He gave a low growl. "Oh, already feral today and it's only six in the morning." Anko grinned.

"We're here to learn to defend ourselves," Al replied. "We'll always come back here." Anko nodded.

"In you go," she said, swinging open the gate into the Forest of Death. By now, the Elrics knew the forest was aptly named. They'd run into pretty much everything that lurked inside it. Ed sighed.

"Back to this already? It's not even scary anymore." Anko's grin got wider.

"I'll show you scary, boys." Cue Anko's snakes, kunai, explosion tags, and a couple of Fire country tigers and giant spiders (yes, _spiders_). Well, at least they were sweating, Ed thought. It was actually a half decent workout, and the two Elrics had gotten lazy in their training after Izumi left.

"I thought you were going to show us scary," Ed taunted back to Anko. "This is nothing compared to pissing off Teacher in the morning. Even Al is scarier than you, and he's soft as a kitten." Al objected to that.

Cue bursts of fire. Really, that was _so_ unoriginal. Mustang owned the corner of scary fire tactics. Ed pulled flips, spins, and jumps while shooting alchemy spikes at Anko. He spun in mid-step and launched himself at Anko. She was so surprised he landed a solid punch at her with his right fist.

Unfortunately, he placed himself in her snake range while doing so, and found three of her snakes attached to his body. Ed threw off the two trying to attach themselves to his automail, bashing one in the head with his boot. He grabbed the last one in his left shoulder with both hands and pulled.

He was still struggling with the last snake when he lost consciousness.

...

Ed groaned as his world came back into focus. Where was- he was at the hospital, wasn't he?

"Big brother!" Al leaned towards him. "You're awake."

"Yeah. Why am I in a hospital again?"

"Anko-sensei's snakes bit you." Oh. Right.

"You really shouldn't antagonize me, brat. You should've learned at least that by now. Maybe I should dump you off with Ibiki. If you think I'm bad..." Ed scowled at Anko's remark.

"What? Did I hurt your _feelings_?"

"Yeah, you did, but hurt your something a lot worse," she grinned and stood up. "Since you're obviously awake and argumentative, let's get going. You two pass; we're moving on to the next step of your training. To the secret lab!" Ed and Al sent each other matching looks of disbelief. "Er, the T&I Corps."

"Riiiiiiight."

"Oh, and we're going out the window so I don't get caught sneaking you out of here."

"You know, for once, I agree with that," Ed replied. Out the window they went. Once they hit the ground, Anko started skipping to their destination. Ed tried his best to look like he wasn't associated with her, but he didn't think it worked very well.

Once inside, Anko took them up to an empty second floor room. There was a table with three chairs in the middle, two chairs on one side and the last chair opposite of it. Windows, Ed noted with a smirk, lined the outer wall. "Meet me here in the mornings from now on," she said, and gestured for the two Elrics to take the seats on the same side. She sat down across from them. "You two are now pretty much immune to the intimidation I've inflicted upon you in the Forest of Death. What was that kind of intimidation supposed to accomplish?"

"Physical exhaustion, for one," Ed replied.

"Accessing our pain receptors," Alphonse added.

"Why?" Anko grilled.

"People slip things when exhausted," Ed answered.

"And the relief of pain is a powerful reward." Al looked down. "Not very nice to think about." Ed gave his brother a sympathetic look, and gave his brother a little nudge.

"Right, well, it's my job to think about these kinds of things, and know inside and out what motions those disturbed minds are most likely to utilize. It isn't pretty, but it has to be done for the sake of the village," Anko replied in the most serious demeanor the Elrics had ever seen her use. She was frowning slightly, eyebrows drawn together.

"It's impossible to completely prepare anybody for torture," she continued. "There's no way to account for all the different possibilities, and the situation would be completely different in the enemy's camps anyways. My job as your temporary sensei is to get you in the right mindset to face these challenges. After that, you should be free to go wherever you please without any Leaf ninja stopping you. I've divided the things you need to learn into various steps. Once you complete one, you will go on to the next- whether that takes a day, a month, or a year. Once I'm satisfied that you've learned enough, I'll send you to another proctor for the test. Fail it, and you'll have to wait at least two years to try it again. We're a mutual team in the sense that when you feel you're ready, and when I feel you're ready, you will take the test." The Elrics nodded.

"Alright, then, tell me what you know about interrogation." Ed wondered why she hadn't started with this in the first place. Maybe their survival in the Forest of Death was akin to their survival on the abandoned island for Izumi Curtis. He wondered what would've happened if they had failed the trial. Then again, they hadn't, so what did it matter?

Al exchanged a look with Ed. "Well, the purpose of interrogation is to gather information," Al said. The two Elrics had picked up plenty from the military. They weren't prodigies for nothing.

"Sometimes the enemy will have standard procedures in place to ensure their prisoners aren't tortured, and sometimes they won't," Ed added. "Even if they do have standards, they don't always live up to their word. They'll hush anything up that the public won't like to hear."

"What are some of the methods they use?" Anko asked.

"They'll pretend to be your friend, if they're nice." Alphonse, of course.

"Threats." Yup, they'd had enough of those thrown their way. "Torture."

"Correct," Anko stopped them with a word. "One of the most common torture used against enemies in the world of shinobi are stress positions. Stress positions are unnatural positions that place a lot of weight onto a single muscle in your body. So, guess what we'll be doing?" Ed and Al exchanged concerned looks. Anko laughed.

"Wrong. We'll start out with flexibility training and then resistance. By the end of the week, we'll be talking stress positions. I'll have you in each of the most common five, and you'll brainstorm ideas for coping and escape. For now, I'm taking you to one of the training grounds. It's much too small in here."

...

"You like the brats," Ibiki stated when Anko returned to the T&I Corps alone that evening.

"What? Nah, they're just fun to play with."

"I'm the head of Interrogation, Anko. I know when people are lying." She shrugged.

"Okay, maybe they're a little _more_ than just play toys. I'm not going soft, Ibiki." She leveled a look at the older, scarred man. Where people saw a harsh, frightening man in Ibiki, she saw a loyal, long-time friend. She hadn't been afraid of him when he'd tried grilling her about- about _that man_- and she wasn't scared of him when he'd mentored her as a T&I intern. It was safe to say that he knew her better than anybody else, and for that reason, he wasn't impaled by kunai, shuriken, or snakes when he said the things she'd rather not hear.

"How long do you think you have with them?" he asked.

"A month and a half." Ibiki blinked.

"They're that good? Didn't they only start learning about the shinobi arts a couple of weeks ago?"

"Heh, that's right. They're pretty darn smart, and that's an understatement. Besides, you know better than anybody that you don't have to be a shinobi to resist torture." Ibiki conceded her point with a nod.

"Well, I'm about done here," he said as he started up the steps to the main level. "Come on, I'll buy you some dango."

"Aw yeah! You're the best, Ibiki!" He chuckled in response as they started up the street to the dango shop.

"Try to remember that dango isn't a balanced diet. I really shouldn't feed your addiction."

** Less Elric abuse in this chapter, hmm? Well, suppose they deserve a break, as things will be heating up soon. Here's my update for updates: any time there is an extended holiday/vacation, I will write a chapter, at the very least. Hopefully as the end of the school year comes to a close, I'll be writing more, but at this point I just can't make any promises. Chapters should be getting longer, too.**

** ~Reviews muchly appreciated.~**


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